This invention pertains to the preparation of stable aqueous microemulsions of carboxylic acid or sulfonic acid containing vinyl resins by converting said vinyl resins to ionomers in an aqueous mixture of solvent and water-soluble organic polymer.
Vinyl resin lacquers are old in the art and have enjoyed commercial success for coating various substrates with clear vinyl coatings. The coating operation however, involves the removal of large quantities of organic solvents in which the vinyl resins are dissolved. For ecological and anti-pollution considerations solvent based coatings are undesirable. This had led to consideration of water-borne resin systems for coating applications. It has not been found feasible to simply substitute a water-borne system for the vinyl resin lacquers for several reasons. While one may make vinyl resin latices by emulsion polymerization, these polymerization techniques require the presence of components in the polymerization recipe which have a deleterious effect on the final coating. The presence of organic solvent leveling aids in vinyl resin latices is also undesirable from an ecological view.
It is therefore an object of this invention to afford a water-borne vinyl resin which contains a minimum amount of extraneous additives.
These and other objects will become apparent upon reading the specification.